While it may be true that the numbers of millionaires and demi-millionaires (with $500,000 to $1 million to invest) shrank precipitously over the past year, that doesn't mean that there aren't plenty of affluent clients who need your help. What's more, some of those clients may not fit the mold that shapes most of your prospects. Instead, they are young; that is, age 45 or less, says Walter H. Zultowski, senior vice president of research at The Phoenix Companies.

This group, which makes up about 12% of the HNW population overall, is better educated and more ethnically and racially diverse than older HNWs, Zultowski says. Nearly 3 out of 10 have some kind of graduate degree, and 30% describe themselves as professionals.

"This is a sudden-wealth group, unlike more tradional clients who accumulated their wealth over a lifetime of work," Zultowski says. Thirty-nine percent of them owe their wealth to work-related stock, 39% to bonuses, 17% to the sale of a business and 14% to an IPO.

Young HNWs have a decidedly different financial profile than their elders, Zultowski says, presenting a substantial opportunity for advisors. "A huge segment, 53%, hasn't done planning. They have been too busy. They're working 60, 70, 80 hours a week and haven't had time to step back," he notes. They are more interested in alternative investments, such as ETFs, hedge funds and investment real estate, than their parents' generation. They are also more interested in philanthropy.

Of course, in today's economic climate, some of these millionaires may have slipped down to the thousandaire level. But the setbacks may be temporary. "HNW hasn't gone away, it's just slipped down a rung," Zultowski says.